ST. PETERSBURG, August 21. /TASS/. Scientists of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI, St. Petersburg) together with experts of the Karpinsky Russian Geological Research Institute (VSEGEI, St. Petersburg) for the first time found on the Khara-Tumus Peninsula in Khatanga Bay fossils of saiga, originating from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), AARI's press service told reporters.
"For the first time, off the Taymyr Peninsula, have been discovered fossils of saiga, which lived about 20,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum," the press service said.
The finding poses a new question to the scientific community. Namely - how did the fastest antelope, that now lives in steppes and semi-deserts, manage to survive in the harsh tundra steppe 20,000 years ago, the press service continued. Not just to survive, but also to migrate in the climate warming to Eurasia's southern regions, while mammoths simply died out.
Saiga represents the mammoth fauna. It lived in Eurasia's north simultaneously with mammoth, musk ox, horse and bison. In the 1920s, the animals were almost completely exterminated, but thanks to the protection and the species' high fertility, the population has recovered. Nowadays the population is almost 2 million.
The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute is the world's leading scientific center in studies of the Earth's polar regions. The Institute carries out the entire cycle of work in high latitudes in the interests of the Russian Federation and commercial companies. Its scientific divisions are engaged in fundamental and applied research of climate, processes in the atmosphere, near space, marine environment and ice cover. AARI is a state operator for activities in the Arctic and Antarctic.